Probably cuz their expensive. I wanted to grab all the re-issue stuff when they release most of the G1 cars (in the openning book packaging). But when I saw they were 20 bucks, I passed, and grabbed an alternator for the same price.

The first couple series (Prime, Magnus, Starscream, Hot Rod) certainly sold well, but after that Hasbro/TRU got a bit too ambitious and released too many reissues in too short a time with too high a markup.

Children were never really a market for them and collectors often frowned up the prices and changes made(no chrome, 'safety' missiles/stacks).

Kids tastes are a good majority or why plus when they where here they where over-priced and disb. kinda of sucked so you would go in and see the same thing for weeks on end. G1 reissues should be handled as limited collector orienited releases and they would do much better IMO.

For me it was the price and then the sudden disappearance of them. I remember years ago when they first came out I found an Ultra Magnus but I couldn't pull the trigger on the $70 price tag. So after a couple months of debating I finally decided to get him and then I couldn't ever find him. Let alone in the short couple months or so that I pondered when I went back they were already all discontinued and clearanced out. I found a silverstreak that even on clearance I still paid $10 for and thats the only figure I ever saw again.

Defintly the price. The first ones i saw were $35 a pop at Toy's r us, and I just couldn't pay that much no matter how bad i wanted them. If it wasn't for a couple of really good ebay lots, I'd have almost no reissues to speak of.

Yeah Geewun reissues did not sell well when they were released. The materials used to make them are quite costly due to use of chrome, rubber, and die cast.

Oddly enough Encores cost about the same as reissues in the U.S. so buying those instead are just as good maybe even better at times. At least with Encores you have stuff in authentic Geewun packaging instead of a book. I liked the book reissues too but you cannot display the toy itself unless you open up the cover.

1. Expensive to produce.
2. Not many stores will sell them.
3. Not as playable.
4. Not many kids would be interested in them.
5. Collectors are pretty much the only one's who would buy them, and even then, not all collectors would.
6. The majority of their sales are to kids.

Basically not an entirely good decision financially for them. Takara on the other hands, has the numbers of collectors and adult fans around them to warrant reissues.

For me it was the price and then the sudden disappearance of them. I remember years ago when they first came out I found an Ultra Magnus but I couldn't pull the trigger on the $70 price tag. So after a couple months of debating I finally decided to get him and then I couldn't ever find him. Let alone in the short couple months or so that I pondered when I went back they were already all discontinued and clearanced out. I found a silverstreak that even on clearance I still paid $10 for and thats the only figure I ever saw again.

The TRU ones where .... then last year around Xmas time last year Walmart had a listing for a UM in the $70/80 bux range that people where hoping was the Masterpiece and it ended up being overstock TRU reissues.

I think the G1 reissues were pretty much doomed to failure due to multiple factors:

- Too expensive - Due to increased cost of materials for them and from TRU jacking the price up. IIRC (and I may be wrong on this), TRU was selling them for way above MSRP.
- Limited appeal to kids.
- Limited appeal to casual fans - The first few releases got all the big names out there (Starscream, Optimus Prime, etc) that a casual fan or someone who vaguely remembered the old cartoon might recognize and be willing to spend money to purchase. Then, the line quickly started getting into characters that most people outside the fandom wouldn't recognize in a billion years (Hoist, Dirge, Silverstreak, Smokescreen, etc).
- Limited appeal to hardcore collectors - Safety laws that hadn't been in place 20 years ago forced Hasbro to make some alterations to the figures. Since they weren't exactly the same as the originals, more hardcore fans stayed away from the line.
- Inability to release certain figures that would likely have broad appeal (ie - Megatron).

Older reissues are expensive. I currently bought a few that were a good deal (like a TRU Ultra Magnus I won on Ebay for $38 MISB).That is why im keeping up to date with Encore because these are the only ones Im buying. If they come out with another reissue series I will most likely pass, unless they have lots of cool extreas.

Because then-circling-bankruptcy Toys R Us pushed their prices beyond what this fandom's wishy washy penny pinchers wanted to pay for more popular items to say nothing of the inexplicable choices that followed. This perfect storm allowed a minority of idiots online to project their blind hatred of old toys as immutable fact while ignoring every single other aspect of the situation, allowing Hasbro the perfect out.

The fact is, if Toys R Us had ordered more Optimus Primes, Hotrods, and Starscreams, they still would've sold out and then some. We'll see just how insignifigant or imaginary the demand for G1 is when that 25th Anniversary Optimus Prime disappears inside of a week.

The fact is, if Toys R Us had stayed closer to $20 for the cars (which the margin allowed for if various reports are to be believed), they would've sold more people who were on the fence and more duplicates to collectors like me. If they'd spaced out some of the weaker figures with more popular ones, who's to say they wouldn't have moved better by association?

The fact is, there's no way it costs more to produce toys from a 20 year old mold that's already paid for many times over than to design and produce entirely new molds. Further, there's no reason to believe the supposedly crippling expense of minor retooling for safety standards is anything but hoax perpetuated by ignorance.